(Original post by jeremy1988)
What part got to you the most? The mugs instead of cups, the use of tea bags, the use of coffee creamer in tea, or the steeping time being too long/short? Surely the use of milk or sugar isn't surprising. Unless you're freaked out that it's just ordinary granulated cane sugar rather than those little sugar cubes?

A little known fact is that half the sugar in the UK doesn't come from cane. It is grown here using sugar beet.

(Original post by DiddyDec)
A little known fact is that half the sugar in the UK doesn't come from cane. It is grown here using sugar beet.

I looked it up, and it turns out that sugar cane is only common here in the South. Texas, Louisiana, and Florida all grow it commercially in large quantities. In the rest of the country, sugar beets are grown instead. I've heard of beet sugar, but I've never had it.

That does explain why every package of sugar I've ever purchased proudly boasted "pure cane sugar", even though they're not legally required to mention what plant the sugar originated from. It's like the people making cane sugar always want everyone to know what kind it is for some reason, while the people making beat sugar don't necessarily want people to know what kind of sugar it is.

(Original post by jeremy1988)
I looked it up, and it turns out that sugar cane is only common here in the South. Texas, Louisiana, and Florida all grow it commercially in large quantities. In the rest of the country, sugar beets are grown instead. I've heard of beet sugar, but I've never had it.

That does explain why every package of sugar I've ever purchased proudly boasted "pure cane sugar", even though they're not legally required to mention what plant the sugar originated from. It's like the people making cane sugar always want everyone to know what kind it is for some reason, while the people making beat sugar don't necessarily want people to know what kind of sugar it is.

There is only one company in the UK which produces beet sugar. The rest is imported.

(Original post by yasaminO_o)
Some of us still use loose tea leaves, but all of us use the metric system

No we don't.

Roads are measured in miles.
Land sales are still measured in acres.
Horses are measures in hands.
People are measured in feet and inches and weighed in stones and pounds.
Horse racing courses are still measured in furlongs.
Even some cases people here don't even use the modern currency system, such as at livestock sales which can be seen using the Guinea.
Beer and milk are sold in pints.

Loose tea is better, but it also takes more time. THat's probably why most people don't bother. When I make Kashmiri tea, I definitely go for the "proper" method, because the kettle simply does not compare.

(Original post by Puddles the Monkey)
I think I've recovered enough to respond.

Every British person knows this is the correct way of making a cup of tea: mug, tea bag, brew for two minutes or so, splash of cold milk (whole milk, not that skimmed nonsense, NEVER COFFEE MATE YOU MADMAN) and a dose of diabetes Perfect.

Fixed

Also, I have mine with semi skimmed milk, but tbh I have cereal as well, and I go through milk quite a lot so..

Usually we use tea bags, but I really like using teacups and saucers. No sugar, no nothing, decent amount of semi-skimmed milk, but strong flavour. Without wanting to sound posh I have earl grey tea, but normal is lovey too.

This is really interesting, because I am thinking about opening a tea room if the tea served was loose leaf tea would you still drink it?
P.s. I am British as well and love a cup of builder's tea left absolutely untouched.

(Original post by jeremy1988)
Well, with so many Americans around, you probably knew that this question about tea was going to come up. I'm sure you've all been asked this a lot by tourists. LOL.

In the US, tea is a beverage that people drink as a coffee replacement if they don't like the taste of coffee. We usually buy tea bags and steep them in coffee mugs for about five minutes, and occasionally add sugar, milk, or even coffee creamer to sweeten it.

When we think of British people drinking tea, we usually picture people with actual tea cups using loose leaf tea prepared with an old-fashioned tea pot and kettle, perhaps taking time to serve them with scones and actually going the whole nine yards to have "a proper tea".

So, do British people still actually go to all the trouble of making tea properly, or has the advent of tea bags made people lazier about tea preparation in Britain as well?

I'd say tea bags but I know some people do use leaf tea such as my dad.